One-hundred-fifty years after the Civil War commenced, another war of succession is being fought, this time between strong willed residents of Whitefish and Flathead County’s library system.
The figurative firing on Fort Sumter occurred this week when the Whitefish Library Association filed for a temporary restraining order prohibiting the county library from removing books and other items from the library building in Whitefish.
I’m not surprised it’s come to this. Strong willed people, and people with a deep sense of grievance against the county library, are leading the effort in Whitefish. They have resources and an iron determination to prevail. Combine that with community pride run amok and you have the ingredients for an ugly, destructive battle.
And for what? Other than the right to say “This library is ours, all ours, and we’ll run it as we damned well please,” what does Whitefish gain by going it alone? In an increasingly interconnected society, it seems to me that the benefits of belonging to a larger system with greater resources far outweigh the psychological benefits of independence.
The more that litigation becomes the tool of secession, the more bitter the differences and the remoter the chances of a peaceful resolution. I think Whitefish and Flathead County would be wise to push back the date of transfer by a year; a cooling off period is needed.
And during that year, Whitefish should rethink the wisdom of seceding from the county’s library system.